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Two districts awarded $1.5M in grants for pre-K students with disabilities to be included in classrooms with non-disabled peers
JACKSON, Miss. – Today, the Mississippi State Board of Education awarded two school districts nearly $1.5 million in grants to create Blended Pre-K programs and improve access for pre-K students with disabilities to be included in high-quality early childhood programs in the same classrooms with their non-disabled peers.
The Lamar County School District (LCSD) and the Simpson County School District (SCSD) were awarded the grants after a competitive selection process. The Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five (PDG-B5) is covered by new federal funds to the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). The grant period begins July 1, 2024 and ends June 30, 2027.
With the funds, LCSD will serve 20 children in one new classroom and SCSD will serve 60 children in three new classrooms. The grant award will be $150,000 per classroom for the first year for program setup with $110,000 per classroom in funds to be awarded each year for year two and year three for support of continued implementation. Awarding of the grant each year is contingent on the successful completion of services, a performance evaluation and the availability of funds.
The Blended Pre-K program utilizes a co-teaching model of a general education teacher and special education teacher in one classroom. Priority for acceptance is that a district has a school without a general education pre-K program. The new classrooms will follow the same Early Learning Guidelines and Early Learning Standards as MDE’s Early Learning Collaborative classrooms, which are already inclusive programs. The classrooms will receive yearly monitoring and be expected to meet the 10 National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) benchmarks. Through MDE’s Office of Early Childhood, both general education and special education coaches will be utilized to meet the needs of teachers in the program.
Pre-K students with disabilities have the right to be included with their non-disabled peers to the extent appropriate to meet their individual needs, as provided for in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
The PDG B-5 grant is based on the strategic plan developed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services Division of Early Childhood Care and Development and other partners, including MDE, the Mississippi Early Childhood Inclusion Center, The Children’s Foundation of Mississippi, and Mississippi State University Social Science Research Center.
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